The present invention relates to a process for decontaminating post-consumer-use waste contaminated polystyrene. The present process is directed to recovering polystyrene resin by processing the waste resin product.
Polystyrene, in foamed or unfoamed form, is an indispensable material in present-day low-cost packaging. Supermarkets and fast-food restaurants use thermoformed polystyrene products in enormous quantities. They are low-cost, attractive packaging products which have short lifetimes but, along with a superb utility in relation to food products, they also present a formidable waste disposable problem. The industry is constantly on the lookout for better disposal means for these used products as alternatives to merely transporting them to a landfill for either incineration or burial. U.S. Pat. No. 4,517,312, issued to Kumasaka et al. and assigned to Toyo Rubber Chemical Industry Company, Ltd., describes a process for regenerating polystyrene resin from waste contaminated polystyrene. This technique, however, involves the use of organic solvents and water. The subsequent removal of these organic solvents and water to reclaim the regenerated polymer can be economically unattractive.
If a process for decontaminating polystyrene can be successfully proposed, such a process will contribute much to the solution of the commercial and post consumer waste problem and permit the conservation of resources.